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Rob Roy MacGregor - History

For nearly three hundred years the story of Rob Roy MacGregor has inspired authors and film makers alike. His life and character were moulded by the rugged Trossachs landscapes of his beautiful homelands - and by the merciless persecution of his people. Forced to live in the glens, Rob and his clansmen were so skilled at suddenly appearing to plunder cattle and collect "blackmail", they became known as the "Children of the Mist". Rob Roy MacGregor was born about 1660, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Donald MacGregor of Glengyle (situated on the shores of Loch Katrine). His mother was a Campbell but this was long before the Glencoe massacre. Rob Roy eventually inherited the position of Clan Chief and owned considerable lands in the area. He rebelled against the accepted ways and organised his people into irregular groups who knew the landscape and were skilled in the art of raiding, all of which earned the wrath of the authorities! A staunch supporter of the Jacobite cause, Rob Roy was 'out' in the 1715 rising. Ultimately he and all of the name MacGregor became a hunted clan. Robbed of their lands by Grey Colin Campbell, they now had to rely completely on livestock rustling and harassing the Campbells at every opportunity. Alaisdair MacGregor, fostered by the Chief, was young when killed and his baby boy Gregor Ray was Duncan Hassadoch MacGregor; - Duncan and his two grown sons were beheaded (after a poaching incident went wrong!) at the behest of Grey Colin. Gregor Ray was then fostered, ironically, by a Campbell man - Duncan Ray, the laird of Glen Lyon. The trouble started for Gregor when he came of age and approached Colin Campbell, asking for the return of his ancestral lands at Glenstrae. The request was refused and the MacGregors went on the rampage. Assassins were hired to capture the young Chief. They murdered two sons of a most respected man, the Dean of Lismore. Retribution was swift from Gregor Ray who sought out the rogues and killed them at Ardeonaig. Hunted both high and low, swimming Loch Lyon and hiding behind waterfalls to dull their scent, MacGregor ghosted back and forth often not more than a hundred yards from his pursuers. His downfall was his love for Marion Campbell. His repeated journeys back and forth to 'see his wife, pregnant with his second child', gave the Campbells the opening they needed. On one such journey home to Carnban, his pursuers surrounded the castle. The Campbells took him to Balloch from where he was later beheaded at Tornna-Croich (Gallows Hill) while his young wife watched on. © Scottish Towns Last updated February 2000